John Spencer
Birthday: Born in 1946-12-20 in New York City, New York, USA
Deathday: 2005-12-16
John Spencer, a highly esteemed American actor, was born in New York City on December 20, 1946. He developed a deep passion for acting from an early age and gained recognition for his captivating performances on Broadway, particularly in "The Great White Hope" (1969). Spencer effortlessly transitioned to film, showcasing his versatility in movies like "The Rock" (1996) and "The Negotiator" (1998). However, it was his portrayal of Leo McGarry on "The West Wing" (1999-2006) that truly brought him widespread acclaim, earning him an Emmy Award in 2002. Sadly, Spencer passed away on December 16, 2005, at the age of 58, leaving a void in the entertainment industry. His legacy lives on through his impactful contributions to theater, film, and television, firmly establishing him as one of the most revered actors of his generation.
TV Credits
L.A. Law
Character: Tommy Mullaney
L.A. Law is an American television legal drama series that ran for eight seasons on NBC from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it contained many of Bochco's trademark features including a large number of parallel storylines, social drama and off-the-wall humor. It reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s, and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot-topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay right...
Law & Order
Character: Howard Morton
In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place....
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Character: Self
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to just Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres....
Spenser: For Hire
Character:
Mystery and suspense series based on Robert Parker's "Spenser" novels. Spenser, a private investigator living in Boston, gets involved in a new murder mystery each episode....
Touched by an Angel
Character: Leo
Monica, an angel, is tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who are at a crossroads in their lives....
Miami Vice
Character: Lt. Lee Atkins
The story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel....
Early Edition
Character:
Gary Hobson thinks he may even be losing his mind when tomorrow's newspaper mysteriously arrives today giving him a disconcerting look into the future. What will he do with tomorrow's news?...
The View
Character: Self
ABC Daytime's morning chatfest, currently featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Ana Navarro discussing the most exciting events of the day. Hot topics in the news, the best experts in their field, celebrity interviews and general entertainment are all part of The View....
E! True Hollywood Story
Character:
E! True Hollywood Story is an American documentary series on E! that deals with famous Hollywood celebrities, movies, TV shows and also well-known public figures. Among the topics covered on the program include salacious re-tellings of Hollywood secrets, show-biz scandals, celebrity murders and mysteries, porn-star biographies, and "where-are-they-now?" investigations of former child stars. It frequently features in-depth interviews, actual courtroom footage, and dramatic reenactments. When aire...
FX: The Series
Character: Carl Scofeld
Rollie Tyler, a special effects expert, helps his detective friend solve crimes by making criminals see what they want to see. But what is real and what is illusion?...
The Outer Limits
Character: Col. Wallis Thurman
Anthology series of composed of distinct story episodes, sometimes with a plot twist at the end, with occasional recurring story elements that were often tied together during season-finale clip shows....
Trinity
Character: Simon McCallister
Set in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, a detective from a working-class Irish Catholic family looks after his family members....
Saturday Night Live
Character: Self - Cameo (uncredited)
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest....
The West Wing
Character: Leo McGarry
The West Wing provides a glimpse into presidential politics in the nation's capital as it tells the stories of the members of a fictional presidential administration. These interesting characters have humor and dedication that touches the heart while the politics that they discuss touch on everyday life....
Tony Awards
Character: Self - Presenter
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre....
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character: Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time....
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Character:
A much more lavish version of the popular Superman television series which had first aired forty years earlier, Lois & Clark focused more on the Man of Steel's early adult years in Metropolis. With the unknowing help of Lois Lane, Clark Kent created Superman there in Metropolis after finding work at the world-famous Daily Planet newspaper, where he meets fellow reporter Lois Lane....
Golden Globe Awards
Character: Self - Nominee
An annual awards ceremony recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign, bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association....
Movie Credits
WarGames
Character: Jerry
High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department of Defense's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his girlfriend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon....
Cop Land
Character: Leo Crasky
Freddy Heflin is the sheriff of a place everyone calls “Cop Land” — a small and seemingly peaceful town populated by the big city police officers he’s long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place behind the town’s peaceful facade. And when Freddy uncovers a massive, deadly conspiracy among these local residents, he is forced to take action and make a dangerous choice between protecting his idols and upholding the law....
Ravenous
Character: General Slauson
Upon receiving reports of missing persons at Fort Spencer, a remote Army outpost on the Western frontier, Capt. John Boyd investigates. After arriving at his new post, Boyd and his regiment aid a wounded frontiersman who recounts a horrifying tale of a wagon train murdered by its supposed guide -- a vicious U.S. Army colonel gone rogue. Fearing the worst, the regiment heads out into the wilderness to verify the gruesome claims....
Forget Paris
Character: Jack
Mickey Gordon is a basketball referee who travels to France to bury his father. Ellen Andrews is an American living in Paris who works for the airline he flies on. They meet and fall in love, but their relationship goes through many difficult patches....
Black Rain
Character: Oliver
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way....
Presumed Innocent
Character: Detective Dan Lipranzer
Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered. Soon after, he's accused of the crime. And his fight to clear his name becomes a whirlpool of lies and hidden passions....
Albino Alligator
Character: Jack
While escaping from a foiled robbery attempt, three thieves find themselves surrounded by police at a New Orleans bar--only they're not the people the police are searching for....
Sea of Love
Character: Lieutenant
Seen-it-all New York detective Frank Keller is unsettled - he has done twenty years on the force and could retire, and he hasn't come to terms with his wife leaving him for a colleague. Joining up with an officer from another part of town to investigate a series of murders linked by the lonely hearts columns he finds he is getting seriously and possibly dangerously involved with Helen, one of the main suspects....
Twilight
Character: Capt. Phil Egan
A retired detective accepts a simple task, unaware that it will tear open old, forgotten, but deadly wounds....
The Rock
Character: FBI Director James Womack
When vengeful General Francis X. Hummel seizes control of Alcatraz Island and threatens to launch missiles loaded with deadly chemical weapons into San Francisco, only a young FBI chemical weapons expert and notorious Federal prisoner have the skills to penetrate the impregnable island fortress and take him down....
The Negotiator
Character: Chief Al Travis
The police try to arrest expert hostage negotiator Danny Roman, who insists he's being framed for his partner's murder in what he believes is an elaborate conspiracy. Thinking there's evidence in the Internal Affairs offices that might clear him, he takes everyone in the office hostage and demands that another well-known negotiator be brought in to handle the situation and secretly investigate the conspiracy....
Hiding Out
Character: Bakey
A very successful stock broker is called to court to testify against a mob boss who was into some inside trading. Andrew Morenski must become Max Hauser and go back to high school for protection from the mob....
Far from Home
Character: TV Preacher
Charlie Cox should have stopped for gas in California. While he's on a cross-country trip with his teenage daughter, Joleen, his car hits empty in a creepy town in Nevada. With nary a drop of fuel to be found, Charlie and Joleen stop for the night at a dilapidated trailer park. There, Joleen catches the eye of two teenage boys, Jimmy and Pinky -- either of whom could be the serial killer currently terrorizing the town....
Lesser Prophets
Character: Ed
The police have three bookies under surveillance, but they escape and set up shop elsewhere. By chance, one of the police finds them; instead of turning them in, he demands money that his brother, now a suicide, had lost to them...
Echoes
Character: Stephen
An artist is plagued by nightmares of a love triangle and murder. A psychic says the dream figure is his brother, a "troubled soul" from an ancient past life. Nearly born as his twin but miscarried, this past life rival now breaks through in nightmares in attempt to repeat history....
In the Arms of a Killer
Character: Det. Vincent Cusack
A young detective falls in love with a witness in a murder case and suddenly becomes a suspect herself....
Cold Around the Heart
Character: Uncle Mike
A jewel thief moves towards a reunion of revenge with his lover, who pushed him out of their speeding getaway car....
Simple Justice
Character: Det. Phil Sullivan
When an unknown assailant viciously murders the participants in a bank robbery and murder case, it could be a case of vigilante justice - that is, if the two cases are connected. That's for the police to decide - and it's a puzzle that becomes more mysterious with each new clue....
Cafe Society
Character: Ray Davioni
New York 1952. Mickey Jelke inherits a big sum of money and spends his nights in Manhattan, painting the city red. Night after night, he can be found in one Broadway bar or the other, in the company of disreputable persons like pimps and prostitutes. One day,a shady cop, aided by Mickey's own girlfriend, Patricia, decides to accuse him of running a prostitution network. A scandal breaks out....
Perry Mason: The Case of the Grimacing Governor
Character: Al Rhinehart
The alleged suicide of a gubernatorial candidate triggers a series of mysterious deaths leading to the governor's mansion, and "Wild" Bill McKenzie, a friend of Perry Mason, is on the case....
From the Files of Joseph Wambaugh: A Jury of One
Character: Det. Mike Mulick
In the first of a potential series of films inspired by the real-life experiences of Los Angeles police officer turned bestselling author Joseph Wambaugh, an on-the-skids detective, with memories of having accidentally shot and killed his partner while they were pursuing a pair of bank robbers, tries to put his life back in order....
Green Card
Character: Harry
Urban horticulturalist Brontë Mitchell has her eye on a gorgeous apartment, but the building's board will rent it only to a married couple. Georges Fauré, a waiter from France whose visa is expiring, needs to marry an American woman to stay in the country. Their marriage of convenience turns into a burden when they must live together to allay the suspicions of the immigration service, as the polar opposites grate on each other's nerves....
When No One Would Listen
Character: Walter Wheeler
Jessica has been married to her controlling husband Gary for years. The abuse only gets worse when she gets a job at a bakery and makes two really caring friends: her co-worker and neighbor Lee, and her boss Walter....
Cocaine and Blue Eyes
Character: Joey Crawford
Michael Brennen, a San Francisco private eye gets dragged into a drug-smuggling operation while searching for the girlfriend of a deal client, leading Brennen to a politically prominent family....
The Protector
Character: Ko's Pilot
Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate....
All Revved Up
Character: Bill Gunter
A lovely school teacher finds herself the victim of a scam artist - a garage owner who delights in ripping off his customers. Soon, she has two eager young men, her lizard-loving neighbour and his friend, on her side to help her exact revenge on the sleazy mechanic, who is the leader of a stolen car ring....